Greenville County Cancels Book Fairs For 24-25 School Year

In light of the new book banning regulation put in place by the South Carolina State Board of Education on August 1 of this year, all Greenville County schools will not be hosting in-person book fairs for the 2024-2025 school year. 

The state board of education’s new regulation bans all public schools from providing their students with books and other materials that are not “age and developmentally appropriate” 

It also bans all books and other materials that have “any visual or other depictions of sexual conduct.”

The regulation gives more power to the state board when deciding which books and other materials will be available in school libraries and if a request for removal is made, it will go to the state board and if the book is decided to be inappropriate then the inappropriate material(s) will be banned in all state school districts, not just the one where the ban was filed. 

Because of this new regulation, Greenville County has decided to not hold in-school book fairs for this academic year. 

The district released an extensive statement on Aug. 22 outlining its reasoning behind the decision.

In the statement, the school district acknowledged that book fairs help engage students and encourage a love of reading as well as a source of fundraising for the schools. 

However, the district also said that the new regulations make it hard for the school to hold book fairs without potentially violating the rules set down by the state board. 

“Greenville County Schools finds it necessary to pause all book fairs for this school year while it works with vendors to find a solution that ensures compliance and avoids a circumstance that may place employees in jeopardy of violating provisions of the regulation,” the statement read. 

The district continued in their statement saying that “it is not possible for school personnel to vet all book fair content after it arrives, nor can vendors provide accurate content information far enough in advance for it to be vetted through the District prior to the start of fall book fairs.”

President of the Public Education Partners in Greenville, Catherine Schumacher said to The Post and Courier that the primary motivator behind this decision was fear of violating the regulation. 

“I think teachers, our teachers, are fearful," she said. "And districts are fearful. And community partners are fearful. You know, I've had funders say to us, 'I'm sorry, we can't fund your literacy program because we're worried about reputational risk if something happens with a book.'"

Currently, if any public school employee is found to violate the rule they will face a written warning and then a hearing in front of the state board. 

The employee in question will then be subjected to whatever disciplinary action the board sees fit to do ranging from being reprimanded to teachers potentially losing their licenses. 

The state Department of Education said to The Post and Courier that they appreciated the school district’s compliance with the regulation. 

Miles Coleman, an outside counsel for the department, said that if the book fair vendor cannot guarantee “age-appropriate” material then the department “applauds their (the district) caution and candor.”

Currently, Greenville County is the only major school district in the state that has announced they are discontinuing book fairs for this year.